Welcome to the greatest race on earth 2005 2006

Mary Murphy, a 46 year old civil servant from Cork, is competing in the Individual Challenge of the Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth.

Mary will be the first Irish resident ever to complete Individual Challenge. She has two of the marathons under her belt as she looks ahead to Mumbai and Hong.

When Mary crosses the finishing line in Hong Kong, she will have run an incredible 104.8 miles!

Today Mary said: “I’m half way there. I only started running six years ago and never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get to see the world like this. Running in Nairobi in October was an incredible experience because the city is at altitude. The air was very thin but I kept going and came home in a good time.”

Mary, who has just completed the Singapore Marathon in just under five hours, holds an accumulative time of 10:29:14.

“Singapore was even better,” continued Mary. “A lot of runners struggled because the humidity was 90 per cent and the temperature 90°F. But I kept going at a steady pace and overtook a lot of runners along the way.”

Mary is training every day to make sure she is in the best possible condition for the next race in Mumbai. She said: “It will be extremely interesting to run in India. I’m looking forward to it.”

The Greatest Race has been the experience of a lifetime and I can’t wait for the final legs.”